The New Look

November 16, 1985

PARIS — The tunics and tall, white flat-top hats are out. American-style jackets and billed aviator-type caps are in. The new uniforms that Paris' police officers began wearing Friday are part of Interior Minister Pierre Joxe's five-year modernization plan. ''The tourists are surprised, and even the Parisians looked at us this morning like strange creatures, but the new uniforms are much more adapted to our time, more comfortable, easier to wear,'' said one officer. ''It gives us a more modern image.'' The discarded uniform goes back to Napoleonic times.